#+SETUPFILE: ../../../template/level-2.org
#+TITLE: Criticism of TTRPGs
#+DATE: <2019-10-31 Fri 03:19>
#+AUTHOR: vaeringjar
#+EMAIL: vaeringjar@land
#+DESCRIPTION: Thoughts about existing games and what to avoid.
#+KEYWORDS: criticism conversion ttrpg


* Update notes

This originally started as an ongoing notes file before it became a
blog post.


* General Critique

Ability scores do not always match or easily convert or encode
real-world measurements. E.g. using IQ or physical feats such as 5k
run times.


* D&D 5

** Armour

- Helmets :: Why no common helmets? OOU, they represent the only type
             of armour most folks continue to use. Or, maybe I will
             just treat IU d&d5 chacters as completely unskilled at
             using helmets.
- Leather :: ~Leather armour, particular with studs, is probably
             without any OOU basis.~ I stand corrected regarding
             leather with the [Brigandine][2], though studs by
             themselves without also having metal plates seems like
             wearing a nail. Also I still feel that gambesons get
             undervalued IU.


** Bias

- Halfling :: The term [Halfling][1] already seems racist OOU and just
              feels like a copy of EU hobbits, without the
              name. Though apparently some use it to mean a person of
              mixed heritage, which also seems racist.
- Humans :: Having a "standard" and "variant" human seems like an
            oversimplification of diversity, OOU.
- Languages Common :: Having "Common" as a language means that either
     there's a bias to humans as the default or that humans have no
     language.


*** Orcs
- Why no orc option? If one can play character who has an orc as a
  parent? Also feels racist.
- The game seems to consider Orcs and some other beings evil, allows
  evil players, but seems to use "evilness" as a reason to exclude
  some beings from default playability.


** Combat

- Combat Reactions :: These initialize with the first round and reinit
     with subsequent turns [3][4]. It would be fairer to all players,
     though harder to track, if in the turn to make it init on the
     turn and to reinite one round later at the turn they used it
     previously. Or it would be simplier to just make both the init
     and reinit happen at the top of the round.
- Combat Surprise :: If someone counts as surprised and rounds take up
     6 seconds of time, it makes no sense that they would simply not
     move or perform actions. They should at least continue with their
     business. Or the surprise round takes up less time than 6
     seconds.

** Numbers, General

- Metric System :: D&D uses USC instead of SI.
- Money :: As of 2019-03-01, the value of gold at 1315.19 US$/troy-oz
           significantly overshadows platinum at 872.89 US$/troy-oz,
           where the IU statically places platinum above gold. I think
           IU should have some kind of system build in to mind the OOU
           market value fluctuations.


* PF 2

- Bias :: If humans really have the most diverse group, then why do
          the elf-folk have four ancestries and the human-folk only
          have two?
- Shields :: The Pathfinder Second Edition rules make AC from shields
             something that requires active management. It turns the
             shield into portable cover with its own HP. But in what
             state does someone carry a tower shield where it does not
             provide any sort of cover when surrounded on all eight
             sides?


* SF

- Material Hardness :: It seems unclear whether or not the game
     developers used an existing OOU hardness scale. Perhaps Rockwell
     C since it matches for one point in the grand range of steel,
     listed as 20.


* SR

- The Matrix :: If SR copied so much from Neuromancer, including the
                idea of the matrix, how does SR have the trademark and
                how did the movies get to use the names?


** 4th edition

- With all the reorg for country maps in North America, Alta
  California previously of Mexico feels like it gets forgotten.
- Magic vs Tech :: SR has concept where magic only affects
                   non-technologic objects. But since cyberware either
                   is-a magical item or has-a magical property of its
                   own, eg Essense, that means the magic SR folks use
                   probably only represents a subset of all
                   magic. Nerfed magic. So for this game, ignore that
                   distinction. I've said it before, "Essense and
                   Magic are coupled"[5].
- Shields :: IU, anyone using one suffers a penalty for all
             occasions. OOU, if these had no advantage they probably
             would not exist as ubiquitous tools around the world.


** Sprites

Instead of just using the huge AI spectrum, for some reason SR has
another term for these.

- Sprite Powers :: Most of these powers enable the Technomancer
                   abilities that any contemporary hacker or cracker
                   could do today, albeit without the discipline of
                   learning it the conventional manner.


* References

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halfling
[2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brigandine
[3]: https://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/150727/when-does-a-characters-reaction-reset-per-turn-or-per-round#answer-150749
[4]: https://web.archive.org/web/20190812030338/https://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/150727/when-does-a-characters-reaction-reset-per-turn-or-per-round#answer-150749
[5]: https://web.archive.org/web/20190813231340/https://drek.is/archive/20131026/shadowrun-critique/
